TARP price tag keeps dropping

Despite all the ranting and raving about the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP is now expected to cost the federal government only $25 billion, the Congressional Budget Office reported this week. As the Washington Post noted, that's the equivalent of less than six months of emergency unemployment benefits. According to the CBO report: "Because the financial system stabilized and then improved, the amount of funds used by the TARP was well below the $700 billion initially authorized, and the outcomes of most transactions made through TARP were favorable for the federal government." So not only did TARP help avert a financial catastrophe, the government is getting most of the money back. Sounds like TARP was a huge success.